ben durdayah wrote on 09 Jan 2011 19:16:
I also used to let that eat me up.
But who says that that's a goal that we should set for ourselves?
Also, that's part of B'makom Sheba'aei Teshuva Omdim, Ain Tzadikim Gemurim Yecholim La'amod.
We have that feeling that we're farfahlen to deal with (among other things) and that's a good way to tap in to "Leiv Nishbar VeNidkeh, Elokim Lo Sivzeh".
And one more thing, what's the Nafka Minah if you wind up like your friends who (as far as you know) never had this addiction -
L'maaseh this whole business of yes like friends/not like friends -IMHO- is lots of hooey, hogwash, bologna (pronounced baloney), shtissim, shtuyot, and for our friend Yoeli with the lithp -B.S. (I heard an Israeli chassidishe guy say that today und Ich zug dir tzi az er veist nisht vus s'maint bichlall; my mother washed out my mouth with soap when I innocently repeated the second half of that word).
Tachlis -Are you happy the way you are? When someone chalilah has yenner machlah, he's busy worrying about his not looking like his friends, or whether the treatments will work and he'll survive?
My dear friend -I have a problem, you have a problem, we have a problem. Any Jew who is frum and looks at P***, hangs out with shiktzas (actually they might be shekatzim, after all if you present yourself as some anonymous John, so can the person you're chatting with) online, can't give up M***N HAS A SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!
Because by definition, most people who live a frum lifestyle -and I'm not even talking about a shtickle ben-Torah, just your average Yossel -have Yiras Shamayim.
And if a guy with Yiras Shamayim in all other areas of life, a guy who has (in general) a wife, kids, other family members, a job or a Kollel, a good (or at least decent) reputation, and whatever else your average Yossel has knowingly and with open eyes places all of what's good in his life on the line in order to watch P***, hang out online with shiktzas, and M**** until he starts losing the ta'am in anything he ever enjoyed HE IS AN ADDICT!!!.
His friend might not be.
So it's a choice, worry about me, or worry about if I'm going to ever be like my 'normal' friends...
Worry about today, because without today -there is no tomorrow.
And I'm not a Rebbe, Navi, or fool who gives out havtachos. I haven't even been around here that long. But I am 100% sure, so I will guarantee you that if you get with the program here, and get clean -you will be so happy, and so satisfied that you won't be able to care less if you are like your 'normal' friends or not. You'll be happy just the way Hashem made you.
Besides, maybe your 'normal' friends:
a. are here now.
b.were here in the past.
c.could really, really, really desperately use to be here, and weren't yet zocheh.
d.were never here, don't need to be here, and never will.
What's the big difference?
I'm here with you, and for you -if you want,
Eli Ben Durdayah